3G could hit India by mid-2007, papers say

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) believes that the country’s first commercial 3G services could be in operation by mid-2007, according to local paper Business Line. The DoT says it expects to have regulatory guidelines governing 3G services in place by January.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, last month the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) identified the 450MHz, 800MHz and 2100MHz bands to be utilised for 3G cellular services. As expected, the regulator suggested auctioning frequencies and set a sliding scale of starting prices for spectrum varying across the country’s 23 telecoms circles. In addition, the TRAI has now said it will make the 1900MHz band available for CDMA-based operators to trial 3G services. It had originally said the allocation of the 1900MHz spectrum would be delayed on the grounds of ‘non-availability in a short term time frame’ and ‘technical issues’. It was also reported that the country’s GSM operators had objected to the use of the band on the grounds that it would create interference with their existing cellular services.